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New China has
witnessed in the past 50 years a tortuous development of its
literature and art. The first Congress of Literary and Art workers
held in 1949 set into motion what was known as "socialist art
cause". In 1956, the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party put forward the principle of "let one hundred
flowers bloom and one hundred schools of though contend", a
policy that promoted the development of arts. Things were in good
shape up to 1966, when the "cultural revolution" broke
out, with the exception of the excessive Anti-Rightist Movement of
the late 1950's, which implicated a big number of writers and
artists. During the 10-year "cultural revolution", many
excellent works were labeled as "poisonous weeds", and
writers and artists were persecuted, leaving China's garden of
literature and art barren.
Since 1978,
China has seen a revival of artistic creation. Great progress has
been made in the following areas:
1. The
country's art performance troupes have been revamped as part of
the effort to reshape China's cultural establishment.
This effort
has achieved major breakthroughs over the last 20 years of reform
and opening up. Since 1992, the Ministry of Culture, the country's
chief regulator of cultural affairs, has responded to the Party's
call to deepen structural reforms of cultural institutions by
focusing first on performance groups directly under the central
government. Measures taken include redefining the relationship
between the State and the troupes by introducing
performance-related subsidies, and redefining the relationship
between the performance groups and performers by linking
employment with performance. Thanks to the effective reforms, the
number of performance groups directly under the central government
has been reduced from 13 to 10, but annual performances by those
troupes increased from nearly 400 of the pre-reform period to
1,928 in 1997. Financially, these troupes put an end to
loss-making and posted a profit of 7.43 million yuan in 1997. This
experience served as a model to be applied nationwide for
reforming art troupes of various sizes.
Art
education and culture-related science and technology have also
undergone readjustments, and pilot programs have been undertaken
in promoting rural cultural reforms and reorganizing popular
cultural institutions.
2. Artistic
creation has flourished.
To promote
art development, the government has since 1987 held five Chinese
art festivals featuring time-honored stage performances. These
festivals have been hugely successful thanks to the participation
of professional artists and the public at large. In 1991 the
Ministry of Culture launched the Wenhua Award -- the highest award
for professional artists given by the government. Recipients of
that award include Grandpa Shangang, Remote Town, Barren land and
The Geologist.
In stage
productions, the government protects and supports classical art
such as orchestral music, opera and music plays, and traditional
Chinese arts such as Peking Opera. The most popular shows include
the New Year's Peking Opera Night and the Chinese New Year Party
organized by the Ministry of Culture. In 1997 alone, 417,000 shows
were staged attracting a audience of 464 million.
3. A cultural
market is fast emerging.
The reform
program has given rise to a booming cultural market. That market
encompasses performances, books, newspapers and magazines, fine
arts, films, audio and video products, entertainment, historical
relics, Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and art training.
Meanwhile, problems have arisen along with the booming market. In
1993, a national working conference was held on regulating the
burgeoning cultural market. At that meeting, the principle of
"attaching equal importance to cultural prosperity and market
regulation" was set forth. A series of related policies and
regulations have been formulated and promulgated since. The
promulgation of the Regulations on Commercial Performance
Administration in 1997, in particular, represented a major
milestone in cultural market legislation. Over the past years, a
planned and step-by-step effort to tackle problems in the cultural
market has been made and the result has been good. The
macro-control measures taken to regulate the performance market,
in particular, have created a positive market environment for the
growth of traditional Chinese arts and classical Western arts. The
rearrangement of the audio and video market has resulted in an
obvious increase in the market share of authentic products. Since
January 1997, a program-supply system has been introduced to
ensure that video projection rooms all over the country play only
authentic films, thereby ensuring the healthy development of the
market.
Statistics
show that by 1997 there were 257,378 business entities nationwide
affiliated with cultural institutions, employing 1,160,385. That
market represents not only a place for entertainment but also a
source of employment and tax revenue. The cultural industry, as
part of the service industry, is playing an increasingly important
role.
4. Impressive
progress has been made in the development of ethnic minority
cultures.
To support
the cultural development of ethnic minorities, the Ministry of
Culture has mapped out a series of preferential policies for
building cultural facilities in minority-inhabited areas, training
ethnic artists, conducting cultural exchanges with foreign
countries, and preserving cultural relics. With the assistance of
the government, all the ethnic groups in China have formed their
own art troupes. By 1997 those troupes numbered 526, including 59
singing and dancing troupes. In addition, there were 596
libraries, 658 cultural centers and 134 museums. The Ministry of
Culture allocates more than 10 million yuan to minority-inhabited
areas for building cultural facilities. To encourage artistic
excellence, the government set up a Peacock Prize for ethnic
artists, so far 166 have won the prize.
Also, 24
institutions of higher learning and secondary schools nationwide
are designated to train minority artists. To support the cultural
development of Tibet, for example, the Ministry of Culture
mobilized 14 provinces and municipalities to aid Tibet's cultural
development. The first 15 projects alone involved nearly 50
billion yuan of aid.
5. Art
education has been strengthened.
Currently,
the country now has 30 institutions of higher learning devoted to
art education, with a combined enrollment of 6,673 students and a
staff of 21,284. In addition, 137 secondary schools employ 13,959
staff members with an enrollment of 68,594. These schools have
produced such great Chinese artists as singers Guan Mucun and Dong
Wenhua, as well as comedians Shi Fukuan and Jiang Kun.
6. The
cultural infrastructure has been consolidated.
The reform
and opening up program has given rise to the emergence of a host
of hallmark cultural facilities in various localities. These
include the National Library of China (the largest in Asia;
dedicated in October 1987); the museums of Shaanxi, Shanghai,
Henan and Tibet; the libraries of Shanghai, Jiangxi, Fujian and
Inner Mongolia; the Changan Grand Theater of Beijing and Tianhe
Book Trading Center of Guangzhou. In 1997 alone, 1,043 cultural
infrastructure projects were under construction, involving a
construction area of 4.5 million square meters. By the end of that
year, 361 projects had been completed, with a construction area of
934,000 square meters and a total investment of 2.84 billion yuan.
The Ministry of Culture alone undertook more than 30 projects,
most involving over 10 million yuan each. Eight projects involved
more than 100 million yuan each. The construction of a National
Opera House is under way, and a number of provinces and cities
have built their own opera houses and concert halls.
(peopledaily)
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